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Currently Reading - Bent Pollies, John Kerr

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From the Blurb:

Politicians are said to be bent for lots of reasons.

The crimes of Milton Orkopoulos are barely remembered outside NSW. It is hard enough to stay awake when following the politicians in one's own state perhaps. If he had restricted his criminal activity to personal possession of marijuana the chances are he would never have been charged, but he used it as a lure to insinuate his way into the lives of minors, who he used for his personal sexual gratification. He became a sexual predator.

Rex Jackson's crimes stemmed from an addiction to gambling. Still, how compulsive can the punt be? The great irony of his abuse-of-office offence is that no harm followed from his crimes. Prison minister goes to a jail - only in Australia.

Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen was never convicted. His trial was played out in the jury room, not open court, with a man of Joh's Party on the jury. The manoeuvres remind one of a Tudor court or the revenge tragedies of the Elizabethan stage, both great users of moles. What happened in Queensland in the 1970s was a close call with one-Party rule, the closest one Australia has had since we dispensed with one-man rule by governor.

Power enables people. The powerful can do things, but sometimes what they do breaks the law. Milton Orkopoulos had sex with teenage boys, Rex Jackson sold Get-Out-of- Jail-Free cards, and Joh Bjelke-Petersen told a whopper on oath. These men were all lawmakers, parliamentarians, and law breakers. One became The Hillbilly Dictator, as close as Australia has come to a one-party police state.